1868- National Labor Union Backs Equal Pay for Equal Work (pushes for equal pay for equal work, the concept that a woman must be paid the same as a man for doing the same or equivalent job with the same qualifications)
1872-Congress Requires Federal Equal Pay for Equal Work (grants female federal employees equal pay for equal work is en- acted. This right was not extended to the majority of female employees who work for private companies or state and local governments.
1963- Equal pay Act becomes federal law (First proposed 20 years earlier, the law says employers must give equal pay for men and women performing the same job duties regardless of the race, color, reli- gion, national origin or sex of the worker)
1978- Employment Discrimination Against Pregnant Women Banned (The Pregnancy Discrimination Act e n sures that employment discrimination on account of pregnancy is treated as un- lawful sex-based discrimination. As a re- sult, employers cannot question potential hires about their plans to have children and have to extend benefits equally)
2009- President Obama signs the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” Into Law (Obama’s first bill to be signed into law. This federal law expands workers’ right to sue for pay discrimination and relaxes the statute of limitations on such suits. This means that woman today have the right to demand for higher pay and cannot get fired by doing so.